Most of the major sights in Washington are concentrated
around the National Mall, the Capitol, and downtown . There are a number of
things I wanted to see in DC well off the mall. I S\stayed with my brother’s
friend Mike in far northwest DC, his apartment on a street that forms the city
border with Chevy Chase, Maryland (where people have voting representation in
Congress and it’s not like living under Apartheid). I thought I’d take Metro
but once I realized the locations of sights I wanted to see relative to the
stations I decided getting to all of them on foot in a big arc would be a better
choice on a beautiful day than getting to them from the Metro.

My first stop was the Washington National Cathedral on Wisconsin
Avenue. It’s pretty spectacular and officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint
Peter and Saint Paul. The claim is that it’s the second largest cathedral in
the United States (after Saint John the Divine in New York) and the sixth
largest in the world. I’m not certain of what measure that’s based on, though –
floor areas, total indoor volume, height of nave or towers or what . As well as
being the third tallest structure in Washington after the Washington Monument
and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Cathedral’s location on one
of highest spots in Washington DC makes it especially prominent on the skyline.
There’s nothing officially federal about it as an Episcopal cathedral owned by
the Archdiocese of Washington, although Congress has designated it “The
National House of Prayer”. There is still work being done to repair damage from
the August 2011 earthquake that affected the area. I was surprised to come
across Woodrow Wilson’s tomb in the cathedral only two days after visiting his
birthplace in Staunton.